COVER 5/12/04 9:51 AM Page 1 SP-1268 R esearch and Scientific Scientific and esearch SP-1268 Support Department Support Report on the activities of the Research and Scientific Support Department 2001 — 2002 Sec1.qxd 3/5/03 3:22 PM Page 1 SP-1268 March 2003 Report on the activities of the Research and Scientific Support Department 2001 – 2002 Scientific Editor K.-P. Wenzel Sec1.qxd 3/5/03 3:22 PM Page 2 2 ESA SP-1268 Report on the Activities of the Research and Scientific Support Department from 2001 to 2002 ISBN 92-9092-992-8 ISSN 0379-6566 Scientific Editor K.-P. Wenzel Editor A. Wilson Published and distributed by ESA Publications Division Copyright © 2003 by the European Space Agency Price €30 Sec1.qxd 3/5/03 3:22 PM Page 3 3 CONTENTS 1. Introduction 5 4. Other Activities 105 1.1 Report Overview 5 4.1 Symposia and Workshops organised 105 1.2 The Role, Structure and Staffing of RSSD 5 by RSSD 1.3 Department Outlook 9 4.2 Science Communications 109 4.3 Other Coordination and Support Activities 110 2. Research Activities 11 2.1 Research Support Division 13 Annex 1: Manpower Deployment 113 2.2 High-energy Astrophysics Research 14 2.3 Optical/UV Astrophysics 19 Annex 2: Publications (separated into 121 refereed and non-refereed literature) 2.4 Infrared/Submillimetre Astrophysics 24 2.5 Exoplanets and Stellar Environments 27 Annex 3: Seminars and Colloquia 153 2.6 Solar Physics and Seismology 28 2.7 Heliospheric Physics 33 Annex 4: Acronyms 157 2.8 Plasma and Gas Environment of 36 Solar System Bodies 2.9 Comparative Planetology and Astrobiology 44 2.10 Cosmic Dust and Comets 49 2.11 Development and Exploitation of Super- 54 conducting Cameras for Astronomy 2.12 Advanced Sensor, Optics and Instrument 60 Development Research 3. Scientific Support Activities 65 3.1 Astrophysics Missions Division 68 3.2 Solar and Solar-Terrestrial 74 Missions Division 3.3 Planetary Missions Division 80 3.4 Fundamental Physics Missions Division 85 3.5 Space Telescope Operations Division 89 3.6 Science Operations and Data Systems 90 Division 3.7 Science Payloads Technologies Division/ 98 Science Payload and Advanced Concepts Office Sec1.qxd 3/5/03 3:22 PM Page 5 introduction 5 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Report Overview ate’s Science Payload and Advanced Concepts Office, are included. Although formally outside the Department This report on the activities of the Research and since late 2002, the close links of this Office with the Scientific Support Department (RSSD, previously the Department for both research and scientific support Space Science Department) covers the 2-year period of activities will be maintained. 2001-2002. It is input to the Department’s Advisory Committee, a group of independent external scientists Finally, Chapter 4 addresses a variety of activities carried invited by the Director of ESA’s Scientific Programme to out by RSSD in its support role to the community. The review the Department’s activities. It forms the basis of Chapter summarises important scientific Symposia and the oral reports made every second year to ESA’s Space Workshops organised by the Department, support to the Science Advisory Committee and Science Programme Directorate’s science communication activities and Committee. Through the publication of the report as an various other activities. ‘SP’ (Special Publication) by the ESA Publications Division, the activities of the Department are brought to While this Biennial Report provides perspective on the the attention of the scientific community and to a broader breadth and quality of the activities of the staff, both in audience. their research and functional work, it is not intended to be comprehensive. Up-to-date information on the Depart- These Biennial Reports have been produced since 1980. ment’s activities can be obtained at http://www. In this edition, a number of changes have been rssd.esa.int introduced to reflect the modified scope of activities and the reorganisation of the Department that occurred The production and content of the report reflects the during the reporting period. The report is divided into efforts of the whole Department. Special acknowledge- four Chapters plus four Annexes. ment for its preparation is due to K.-P. Wenzel, who edited the different contributions. Chapter 1 deals with the Department’s role and organisation. Its mandate and structure both evolved considerably during the reporting period. Based on a 1.2 The Role, Structure and Staffing of RSSD revision of the responsibilities of the Department, the structural changes that began at the end of 2000 were RSSD, one of the two Departments of ESA’s Scientific finalised during the initial year of the present reporting Directorate, provides the direct interface to the scientific period. A reorganisation of the whole Scientific community throughout all mission phases. Following in- Programme Directorate, also affecting the Department, orbit checkout and commissioning, it is also responsible took place in the second year. This led to a further for the management of the missions. In addition, the evolution to its current structure, described below. The Department plays its part in the dissemination of names of staff, their locations, duties and scientific scientific knowledge to the public and for educational research interests are given in Annex 1. purposes. Chapter 2 addresses the scientific research of the The role and responsibilities of RSSD have evolved Department’s staff, broken down according to considerably during the reporting period. This is clearly ‘discipline’ rather than the divisional structure of expressed through the change of its name. The prime previous reports. A complete listing of the scientific motivation for the reorganisation was to achieve greater papers published in the literature is given in Annex 2. efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of support to Some 380 refereed papers were published during 2001 the scientific community, particularly in the areas of and 2002, and more than 400 conference papers and payload technology, science operations and communica- other publications appeared. tions. Specifically, the departmental organisation has been adapted to respond to the overall strategic Chapter 3 provides a top-level summary of the mission- objectives of the Agency, and be responsive to the needs related activities at Divisional level. For the four of the science community. It was also motivated by the Missions Divisions, the prime contributions to the desire to give more responsibility and authority to the scientific support of the various elements of the Science Department’s scientific staff, and to provide opportuni- Programme are summarised. For the two Operations ties for increased mobility, while maintaining a healthy Support Divisions, special mention is also made of the scientific environment where staff can pursue their own post-operational and archiving phases. The activities of research within a balanced programme. The role of the the Science Payloads Technology Division, which Department’s staff in support of the revised Directorate’s evolved and very recently expanded into the Director- and Agency’s communications activities was also Sec1.qxd 3/5/03 3:22 PM Page 6 6 introduction Head of Research and Scientific Support Projects Department, the Science Programme Coordina- Department tion and Planning Office and the Science Project SCI-S Management Coordination Office. Science Payload and Advanced Concepts Office Chief Scientist SCI-A SCI-SR In particular, the Department is responsible for providing scientific expertise to studies and projects in all phases, and for ensuring that maximum scientific return within practical technical and budgetary constraints is Astrophysics Missions Scientific Operations and Division Data Systems Division maintained as a target through all phases of a scientific SCI-SD SCI-SA mission. The Department also manages, through its Planetary Missions Space Telescope Study or Project Scientists, the activities of each mission Division Operations Division SCI-SB SCI-SN science team. Solar & Solar-Terrestrial RSSD is responsible for all aspects of science operations Missions Division SCI-SH (definition, development, implementation and execution) through all mission phases and manages the operations Fundamental Physics Missions Division phase of missions following in-orbit commissioning, SCI-SP supported, as necessary, by system engineering expertise from the Scientific Projects Department. Figure 1.2/1: Structure of RSSD staff at the end of 2002. The Science Payload and Advanced Concepts In very close coordination with the Science Payload and Office evolved from the Department’s Science Advanced Concepts Office, RSSD provides scientific Payloads Technology Division in late 2002. and payload expertise within the Agency in all phases of scientific missions, including to other directorates of the Agency, such as the Directorate of Human Spaceflight on ISS payloads. RSSD works with external science teams to define the science requirements for studies on future reconsidered. More details about the Department’s tasks payloads and the associated technologies, and passes are given below. these to the Science Payload and Advanced Concepts Office for follow-up. Changes to the structure of the Department were implemented in a three-stage process. The first phase The Department provides input to the Directorate’s began in late 2000/early 2001 with the introduction of the Science Communications Service regarding the scientific Science Payloads Technology Division, the Science aspects of the missions, and ensures that the scientific Operations and Data Systems Division and a Research output of each mission is fully exploited in a timely Division. This phase was essentially completed with the manner for the benefit of public awareness and public arrival of the new Head of Department on 1 July 2001. In communication. a subsequent stage initiated in September 2001, the Planetary Missions Division, the Solar and Solar- It is, of course, very important that members of the RSSD Terrestrial Missions Division, the Space Telescope scientific staff maintain their scientific proficiency by Operations Division and the Fundamental Physics undertaking personal research.